


babes in the woods

by verity



Series: bedtime stories [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:40:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verity/pseuds/verity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate tells Allison a bedtime story. Part 3 of 3.</p><p>(Author chooses not to warn for contents of bedtime story; no archive warnings apply to frame story.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	babes in the woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Butterfly_Beat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterfly_Beat/gifts).



"Once upon a time," Kate says, "A wolf found two little babies in the woods."

—

_The woods were big and dark, and the babes were hungry. They had no mother to take care of them. A wolf who had lost her cubs found them, gave them her milk so they'd stop crying. Then she took them home to her den, and she raised them there. They grew into two boys, Romulus and Remus, and they were strong and wild: half wolf, half man. Ill-augured Remus was slain by Romulus, who built a city over his brother's bones._

_Rome was a city where wolves were kings._

—

"They were real wolves?" Allison says, turning on her side. "Did the wolf's milk turn them into wolves?"

"They weren't quite wolves, and they weren't quite people," Kate says. "Somewhere in between."

—

_There were seven kings of Rome, all told, who ruled over the people. The wolves were arrogant, cruel, murderous. They took what they wanted: they were kings._

—

"No queens?" Allison asks.

"Getting there, sweetheart."

—

_The last king of Rome was rightfully called "the Proud," and beneath his throne lay bones, too; his lady-wife the queen had robes drenched red with the blood of her father. Together, they had three sons, each as ruthless and greedy as their parents. When Rome laid siege to a neighboring kingdom, these princes did not toil with foot soldiers at the blockade, but supped and lazed about with men of rank._

_One such evening, the princes and their men drank until their cheeks were flushed with wine, and each among them fell to praising their wives and their virtues. Duty, honor, and faith guided every footstep, each husband boasted of his wife, but none so loudly as the princes' cousin of his Lucretia. To end the quarrel, the men paid visit to all their wives on horseback, finding all idle but Lucretia, still working at her loom. Her beauty and purity caught the eye of the youngest prince and inflamed his desire: he resolved to debase her._

—

"Why would the prince want to hurt her if she was the prettiest and the best?" Allison already has a vision of Lucretia in her head, straight-backed and fair-cheeked as Mom, hands busy with weaving. She can't imagine anyone wanting to hurt Mom, or brave enough to try.

Kate rubs Allison's back, touch as gentle and soft as her voice. "You wanted me to tell you a true story, honey. Truth is, though, there are monsters out there in this world."

—

_A few days later, the prince preyed on the hospitality of Lucretia and stole from his bedchamber at night to press a blade to her naked throat and demand her favor. Lucretia found no threat in death, so the prince swore he would dishonor her body if she did not lie with him. Only then did she relent, seething with grief and rage._

_In the morning, Lucretia sent for her husband and her father, stood before them with the sword the prince had left, unwitting, in her bed. "Our prince's treachery has defiled my body, but my soul remains to me," she said. "Take this sword and hew him with it." And with that she thrust herself upon the sword, that men might heed her word…_

—

"…and the wolves were driven out of Rome," Kate says.

Allison's drifting off already; it takes her a minute to realize that Aunt Kate's done. "Wolves make bad kings," she says. "That's the point, right?"

"Yes, babydoll." Kate bends down and kisses her cheek. "So do men."

—

Allison closes her eyes, falls asleep; she doesn't dream.

 

  
_Lucretia_ , Girolamo Bedoli-Mazzola

**Author's Note:**

> This account of Rome's founding and the downfall of the Roman Kings is based on Livy's _Ab Urbe Condita_.


End file.
